Sony TidBits…

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A little bit of history: The WDC A900 camera presentation :)

Absolute first 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS Powerzoom Lens Review at ePhotozine.
70-400mm F4-5.6 G SSM II lens test at DC.watch.
10-18mm E-mount lens review at Exifphotoblog.
NEX-6 review at Letsgodigital.
Sony wins Japanese invention award with the back-illuminated CMOS sensor (DC.watch).
First shots with the Sigma 60mm 2.8 DN Art lens on Nex 7 at Photocinenews.

Brad: “I have a few items on my website regarding the NEX 5N and associate bits, in particular though I have posted a review of the Minolta 28-135 on the NEX using my “beast rig” and also an older review on the Nikon 35-70 applied to the NEX. Here is the link to the Minolta review/story www.01imaging.com/section208294_260431.html
And this is the one to the Nikon review: http://www.01imaging.com/section402157_231458.html
It is probably a good idea of people read “how I test lenses first” to get some perspective as it might be a little different to what they normally think a lens test involves. http://www.01imaging.com/section402157_231453.html”

Vedran: “I have just uploaded Sony RX1 snapshots on my web page: http://www.vedrantolic.com/p998924976.”

David: “Just wanted to share a mini-documentary I shot for one of my clients this past week. It was done with the Sony a99. http://www.sin3rgy-creative.com/portfolio/cool-beer-story/”

Meng: “Some test shoot on the 70-400mm f4-5.6 G SSM II with SLT-A99. Corp closed to 100%. Editing done on LR4. At 400mm on FF it is still not enough.Better view here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/meng_keat/8730216365/“

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Hedge Fund leader makes pressure on Sony…

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As you know there is a very deep restructuring ongoing within the Sony company. This also affected the A-mount camera roadmap. There will be no new A-mount cameras this year because the new Sony strategy is to release a camera only when it’s really ready to challenge the big ones (Canon and Nikon). This means new A-mount cameras will be due in early 2014 and we are looking forward to get some specs of the new stuff.

In the meantime Daniel Loeb, CEO of Third Point LLC, the largest owner of Sony Corp. stock, published an open letter asking Sony to focus on few profitable areas, image sensors among them (Source: Image Sensor World). Loeb is that guy that made big profits on his bets on Greek bonds, mortgages, website operator Yahoo Inc and a fall in the Japanese yen. A real hardcore speculator! The investor believes that spinning off a portion of the entertainment business to Sony shareholders could sharpen the company’s focus and lead to higher profit margins, while helping to revive the core electronics business (Source NYT via The.me).

How could he influence Sony’s digital camera business? If Loeb pressure succeeds this will force Sony to cut unprofitable business even more than they did until now. This could mean for example, drop the compact camera business and focus on high quality RX cameras. But that’s just speculation for now. I don’t think Loeb will influence the new RX-NEX and A-mount roamdap.

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First Lens Turbo shipping from UK! New Speed Boosters for Nikon G coming too.

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[shoplink 18463 ebay]

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Sorry to bother you again with Lens Turbo and Speed Booster news. But quite many SAR readers and NEX owners are interested to grab one of these. And since today they are now available in UK stores too:
[shoplink 18466 ebay]Canon FD to NEX (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 18464 ebay]Nikon Ai to NEX (Click here)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 18463 ebay]Pentax K to NEX (Click here)[/shoplink].

There is also a news on the original (and probably more high quality) Speed Booster from metabones. A new New Speed Booster Nikon G electronic adapter to be released by end of May. And Philip Bloom is right now testing the adapter on his Blackmagic Cinema Camera. We should see his reviews soon on his website.

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Three SAR readers Lens Turbo tests…

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We have the first three “Lens Turbo” feedbacks from SAR readers ([shoplink 18455 ebay]eBay auctions here[/shoplink]):

1) SAR reader Gary (Click here) tested the Pentax to NEX Lens Turbo and you can see plenty of images on his blog. Some of his early findings:

– The build quality on the unit is fantastic,
– The field-of-view is actually a bit narrower than I expected,
– There is also a hint of vignetting wide open, and the adapter seems to add a slight green tint to the image, as well as a hint of distortion,
– it does seem to smudge and swirl the bokeh a bit.

 

2) Southerns: I’m returning my Lens Turbo. There is a large bluish dot in the center. Shot with a FS700 – http://youtu.be/zYB0lesJaxo I used the Samyang 14mm and Samyang 24mm. I also tested at the same time with the MTF adapter and that was ok. No filters were used at all. The camera was in the shade and I get the blue dot facing the opposite direction away from the sun too.

 

3) SAR reader Donny shared his Len Turbo image samples. Click on them to enlarge. The George Takai magazine, 2 Flower Shots, and Payphone were all shot with the Nex 5n plus, Lens Turbo Nikon-NEX adapter, and Nikkor 50 1.4 AIS.The rest were shot with the Samyang 35 1.4. All with an aperture of /f1.4 on lens (which becomes f/1.0 witht he Lens Turbi).

 

Current Lens Turbo auctions:

1) Hong Kong store Roxens sells the Pentax K to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18380 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Canon FD to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18420 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Nikon F to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18421 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Minolta MD to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18422 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]
2) Shanghai store Jinfinance has three adapters:  Pentax K to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18381 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink],  Canon FD to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18382 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Nikon F to NEX adapter on [shoplink 18383 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

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NEX-5 Gold Box auctions and RX100 superkit for $625.

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There is a new Gold Box deal on the NEX-5 at Amazon (Click here).

And the deal of the day is that [shoplink 18442 ebay]RX100 superkit on eBay US (for $625 and free shipping)[/shoplink] that includes an External Rapid Charger for Sony NP-BX1, 16GB SDHC Memory Card (Class 10), 2x – Extended Life Battery for Sony NP-BX1 and a Deluxe Soft Small Camera Case

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Reminder: Sony A77 firmware update could be released in August.

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Yesterday Zeiss said that a new NEX-5-6-7 firmware update is due for August. This also indirectly confirms the rumor I posted two months. There I wrote that a new A77-NEX-7 firmware is coming in August. A77-A65 owners can expect some of their requests to be fulfilled by Sony…some, not all :)

What I don’t know yet is if there will be a new A99 firmware update too. Some source got some information about that?

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